Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #18 of Genesis 31, and we will be reading Genesis 31:34-35:

Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study, we saw how Rachel was sitting on the images as she sat on the camel’s furniture, which was more than likely a saddle for a camel.  And we saw how this was illustrating the truth that the elect did not bow the knee or worship Satan during the time of his greatest period of rule in the world and in the churches during the Great Tribulation period.  The people of God continued to serve God, whereas the nations of the world and the unsaved within the congregations served the Devil.  We read this in Revelation 13, which is a chapter that begins with the beast coming up out of the depths of the sea, and that is showing that Satan is rising out of the bottomless pit as he is loosed.  And we find it says in Revelation 13:7-8:

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

And there is the statement that all those dwelling on the face of the earth worshipped him except for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  So this divides the human race, and there are only saved or unsaved.  There are only two categories, and all who are unsaved do not have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and they were not predestinated to salvation by God, so they will remain in their sins, and they will worship Satan.  So we read further on in Revelation 13:14-18:

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

These are the very things we read about in Revelation 15:2 concerning those that had gotten the victory.  Let us turn there and read it again, in Revelation 15:2:

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

The chosen people of God, the elect, got the victory because God had saved them and, as a result, they did not worship the image, and all those that did not worship the image of the beast were to be “killed.”  Spiritually, that meant they would be driven out of the churches, and this actually took place over the course of the Great Tribulation period.  Then God sped up the whole process by revealing that the church age was over and commanding His people to come out and flee to the mountains.  But even that command to come out of the churches does not do away with the fact that the people of God were being spiritually “killed.”  The end of the church age was a direct consequence of the corporate church’s apostacy or “falling away,” and their worshipping of the beast.  And you can tell they worshipped him through their deceitful doctrines and false gospels because Satan is a liar and the father of it, and they were worshipping and serving the lie.  It was these false teachings that were going forth everywhere across the church world that were actually driving out the people of God.  And, again, God assisted by commanding His people to come out. 

So here we read that everyone in the world whose names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life would worship the beast.  Then in the previous chapter of Revelation, it says in Revelation 14:9-11:

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Again, this is referring to the unsaved who are suffering the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment, and they will have no rest “day or night,” which is a time reference that applies to the entire Judgment Day period, and biblical evidence indicates it will be 22 actual years (23 inclusive years) from May 21, 2011 to the year 2033.  And “no rest” has to do with no salvation.  They cannot find “rest in Christ,” day or night in that prolonged judgment time period, and those that cannot find rest are those that worship the beast and his image and that receive the mark of his name.  And that has to do with name of the beast on their foreheads, and the forehead has the mind, which is the same as the soul or spirit or heart, and it has to do with their spiritual condition.  They are unsaved, so Satan has ownership of them.  He has the mark of the beast and the mark of his name upon them.  He owns them in their unsaved condition.

In Revelation 16, which is a chapter that describes the pouring out of the seven last vials of the wrath of God, we see the seven “angels” or messengers, which typify the elect saints that have been left on the earth in the Day of Judgment (our present time period), and they are accomplishing this as they share the Bible’s teachings as the Lord reveals these things to their understanding.  It says in Revelation 16:2:

And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Do you see the emphasis God is giving to this point?  It is not a light matter.  This is a terrible thing that Satan would be worshipped over and above God, and it is especially terrible that all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth (both inside and outside the churches) are doing this.  So God is targeting them.  They are the objects of His wrath.

We will look at just one more verse that tells us this, in Revelation 19:19-20:

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

So this worship of the beast is referred to, again, and again, in the book of Revelation especially during the time of the Great Tribulation, but it also has to do with the Day of Judgment because of the fact that God is judging them.  He is casting them into the “lake of fire,” spiritually, as they are experiencing punishment for their sins.

Again, Revelation 15:2 stands out.  It really shines forth in its statement, once we understand how common this is and how the whole (unsaved) world is involved in this sin.  But the exception are the true people of God: “…them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”  There are four references to Satan because “four” is the number of “universality,” so this is referring to Satan in this world and all the evil he is involved in, and to all those that are engaged in worshipping him over the course of this present time, bowing the knee to him, and not to God.  At the same time, all over the earth where God’s elect are, they are not bowing the knee to him.  They are not worshipping the Devil.  They are not serving the beast, or his image, or anything to do with him, even during that short period of rule for the 23-year Great Tribulation period. 

And we know that when Judgment Day began, he was put down, but that did not stop the people of the world that had actively worshipped him from continuing in their filthy deeds.  He that is filthy will be filthy still.  So they are still doing the same things in serving lies, believing lies, and trusting lies, whether they be secular lies or religious lies or perverted gospels.  And the lie can always be traced back to Satan, so in that sense they would still be actively worshipping the beast, even though he has been deposed and put down from his seat in the temple where he had been showing himself that he was God.  Christ has removed him from his seat, as well as from his role of ruling the earth that he had ruled for thousands of years from the beginning in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Adam and Eve into believing the lie and disbelieving the command and Word of God.  And from that time until May 21, 2011, he ruled the nations.  The kingdoms of the earth had belonged to him, but he has been put down.  But, again, as far as the people of the earth are concerned, they are continuing in their rebellion against God and in their transgressions and evil deeds.  And that can all be traced back to Satan.  So as far as that goes, he is still receiving the adoration and worship, in that sense, of the unsaved people of the world.

Let us go back to Genesis 31:34:

Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them…

And that is an illustration of God’s elect that are ruling over everything that is Satan’s in this world.  They are ruling over the image of the beast.  They have gotten the victory over him through Christ, and Satan is not ruling them.  (I guess that is the main thing.)  And then it says of Laban, a type of Satan in this historical parable, in Genesis 31:34:

… And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.

We will look at that before we move on, but I do not know if we will get to it in this study.  But the fact that Laban made such a diligent search without finding anything that would incriminate Rachel, even though she was guilty, has a lot to do with God’s elect, does it not?  Rachel is a type and figure of the elect of God.  And are we guilty?  Yes – if any of us look at ourselves and our lives, we see a whole mountain of sin.  That is a lot of guilt, a lot of shame, and a lot of transgressions that we have done.  On the other hand, even though we are guilty of sin, Christ has taken all that sin and removed it from us, and we are guiltless.  If anyone were to search us, biblically or legally…and the Bible is the Law of God…they would find nothing because there is no condemnation toward us because we have no sin.  And Laban is frustrated in his search, which would point to that.  But I want to take more time to look at that, maybe in our next study.  I am not sure how far we will get today.

But let us go on to Genesis 31:35:

And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee…

The word “displease” is actually a word that means to be “wroth” or “angry.”  And we know it means that because it says in Genesis 31:36:

And Jacob was wroth…

And that is the same word, Strong’s #2734.  So Rachel was saying, “Let it not make my lord angry,” or “Let it not cause you to be wrathful.”  It is interesting that she is calling her father, “my lord.”  Remember that the spiritual picture is that Laban is a type of Satan, and Satan had rule over the earth and over the people of the world, even when the elect of God were “children of wrath even as others.”  During the Great Tribulation period when we were commanded to come out of the churches and go out into the world, who was the ruler there?  It was Satan.  King Nebuchadnezzar was a historical picture of this because he ruled the nations.  He was the great conqueror,  the great king of Babylon, typifying Satan’s power.  And we were to leave the churches and go out into the world where Satan was the ruler.  So there could be a vestige of spiritual meaning tied to that, as far as Rachel being a type of the elect who are presently seated over the image, as she is seated on the camel’s furniture. 

So that verse in Revelation 15:2 is in view.  She has overcome the beast, so she told her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee.”  Regarding the term “rise up,” we were just talking about bowing the knee in worship, which we typically think of as lowering oneself.  But there is also a relationship to “rising” in worship.  It says in Exodus 33:10:

And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

They rose up to worship because the cloudy pillar was the sign that God was there.  They key word is that they “rose up” to worship. 

But here in our verse, Rachel is seated over the image, and this is why God would use another picture wherein Rachel is really refusing to rise up.  Historically, we know why, but to show respect and honor for her father whom she called her Lord, you would think she would stand.  And she gave the excuse that it was her menstrual cycle, and that the custom of women was upon her.  But that does not change the situation that she remained seated, and she did not rise up.  She actually said, “I cannot rise up before thee,” and that is the case for God’s people.  We would want to join our fellow citizens and get along with what everyone else is doing, because there is less pressure in doing so.  Basically, everyone wants to please their family and neighbors.    They want to fit in.  They want to do what others are doing.  But remember, what are all the other people in the world doing?  On one hand, the picture is of bowing the knee and worshipping the image of the beast.  But on the other hand, the spiritual picture God is using in this verse is to stand or “rise up,” and we could say that all the people of the world, especially during the Great Tribulation, were rising to do service to the beast, who is Satan the evil one. 

But God’s people cannot because we have been taken out of darkness and translated into the light.  We have been taken out of the world, and we have been made citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and now we have another King that we serve, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we no longer serve Satan.  We cannot.  We cannot because the Spirit of God within us will not do it. 

And we see this in the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused to bow down to the image that the king had made.  And we see it in Daniel when the law was passed that no one could make any petition or prayer to any God or king for thirty days, but Daniel dismissed it.  He cannot bow the knee to earthly kings and earthly laws and serve them.  You know, the Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters, because we will hate the one and love the other.  We can serve God, or we can serve the evil, and God’s people are given a new heart and a new spirit and an ongoing desire to do the will of God.  To serve God is to do His will.

There is another interesting spiritual parallel that we find in the book of Esther, and it has to do with Mordecai and Haman.  We know that Mordecai is a type of Christ, and as a type of Christ he can be an example of the believers or body of Christ.  Haman had been promoted, and his promotion spiritually has to do with God loosing Satan to rule over the corporate church, which we were talking about earlier regarding all the nations bowing the knee and serving him.  So part of the book of Esther has to do with the Great Tribulation period, but as we get close to the representation of the Day of Judgment when it gets close to the “seventeenth day of the second month.”  (And in the book of Esther, we can show some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence to indicate that.)  But just prior to that, Esther had a petition or request to the king, in Esther 5:8-9:

If I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to morrow as the king hath said. Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.

Just to show that this refusal to stand up by Mordecai is akin to a refusal to bow, we can look at a verse earlier in the book of Esther, in Esther 3:4-5:

Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.

You see, Haman did not like it when Mordecai bowed not, so at that point he was standing when this “great man” Haman walked by, and he did not bow down.  Or, if he were seated when this “great man” came by, he was to rise to show respect.

And in this case, Rachel did not “rise” for Laban, her lord and father.  And this gets right down to the people of God who will not “bow” to Satan or “rise” to Satan, during the Great Tribulation and into Judgment Day itself.